


ADHD

by Universe4200



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: ADHD, Always moving, How people find out and their reactions, Hyper Steven, Steven has ADHD
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-06
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-26 05:22:27
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,064
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21688270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Universe4200/pseuds/Universe4200
Summary: Greg glanced at Steven through the rearview mirror and allowed a small smile to grace his lips. He loved his son and wished that Rose could meet their little ball of energy that they had created together, she would have loved Steven so much.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 78





	1. Greg and Garnet find out

Greg had brought Steven by the clinic to have his first check up. Steven was four years old as of a week ago. Greg had a thought on why Steven did some of the things that he did. He just wanted a medical professional’s opinion about it too. 

So there he was sitting in an examination room with a doctor who was typing on her computer. 

“Well Doctor, what’s the verdict, does he have it?” Greg asked nervously before glancing down at his son who was squirming and whining in his lap, wanting to be released. 

“Yes I’ve concluded that your son, Steven does in fact have ADHD, also known as attention deficit hyperactive disorder.” 

Greg nodded and winced as he was kicked by Steven’s tiny leg in his shin. 

“I wan dow!” Steven yelped thrashing even more. 

Greg sighed and finally gave in, loosening his grip from around his midsection, allowing the crazy toddler to slip underneath Greg’s arms and bolt around the room with so much energy. 

The doctor’s lips pulled in a small smile, she had seen plenty of young patients with this common disorder. She printed out her findings and gave Greg a copy, placing her own copy in Steven’s records file. 

A few minutes later Greg and Steven were on their way home. 

“Moosic” Steven yelled from his car seat in the back seat, legs kicking wildly, tiny hands slapping his knees. 

Greg glanced at Steven through the rearview mirror and allowed a small smile to grace his lips. He loved his son and wished that Rose could meet their little ball of energy that they had created together, she would have loved Steven so much. 

“Which one do you want to listen to kiddo?” Greg asked. 

“The van one!” Steven said, his smile beaming, showing off his wide smile with a couple gaps from his missing teeth. Greg popped in one of his old CD’s and pressed play. 

The song started with a guitar and then a voice came out from the speakers. 

“ _ I know I’m not that tall. I know I’m not that smart. But let me drive my van into your heart. Let me drive my van into your heart.”  _

Steven tried his best to sing along to his father singing on the cd. Greg beamed happily the rest of the way back to Beach City, Steven loved Greg’s music as much as Rose did. He really didn’t think his kid would be into his music this much, but it turns out his kid absolutely adored all his music. 

Greg drove onto the beach where he had first met Rose and drove down the beach until he got to the statue, a small house in the process of being built underneath it, the temple door, and warp pad. 

He turned the car off and glanced in the backseat to find that Steven had fallen asleep from their ride back from the clinic. Greg smiled at him and quietly got out of his van and made his way to the small house which was a little more than halfway done. 

Once there, he could hear one of the gems. It was Garnet. 

“Hey Garnet” Greg said as soon as he was in view of her. 

She turned and held out a hand saying “hey Greg. Where’s our little man at?” 

Greg pointed behind him. 

“In the van, asleep.” 

Garnet nodded and continued what she was doing. She continued to hammer in a nail in one of the wooden beams. 

“The house isn’t done yet, you know that right?” Garnet asked, not looking away from what she was doing. 

“Yeah, I just came to tell you something I found out today about Steven.” 

Garnet stopped and turned at the name of her precious boy. 

“I brought him to a doctor today and they told me that he had, what I always knew he had. Something called ADHD.” 

Garnet looked at Greg questionally. 

“What’s that?” Garnet asked, still not that informed on human’s illnesses and disorders yet. 

“It’s attention deficit hyperactive disorder. It’s the reason why he’s squirmy, fidgety, can’t sit down for too long, crazy with energy, always in constant motion, excessively making noise or talking a lot. That kind of stuff.” 

Garnet placed a hand on her chin, deep in thought. 

“A disorder means an abnormal condition that affects the function of a living organism, right?” 

Greg nodded. “More or less, yes. Anyways, I thought I’d let you know so you weren't out of the loop or anything. I know you guys think he’s crazy a lot of the times but he really can’t help it. It’s just something his body is making him do.” 

Garnet nodded and decided she would tell the other two gem members later when they came out from their rooms. 

“Thanks for letting me know, Greg,” Garnet said softly. 

Greg nodded and rubbed the back of his neck. 

“Well I should probably get back to the car wash and put Steven in bed now. See yeah Garnet.” 

Garnet nodded and continued what she was doing, deep in thought about Steven and how he would be when he got older.


	2. Amethyst and Pearl find out

When Pearl and Amethyst had emerged from their respective bedrooms, Garnet had stopped them and had them take a seat on the couch.

“Are we in trouble?” Amethyst asked sourly before plucking food particles from her hair, making Pearl move away from Amethyst in disgust.

“No, this is about Steven,” Garnet said calm and collectively.

“What’s wrong with Steven!? Is he okay?” Pearl asked, her eyes wide and full of worry.

“He’s fine” Garnet said.

“Then what about Steven?” Amethyst asked.

“Greg took him to a human’s clinic and they found out that Steven has something known as ADHD. The long term of it is Attention deficit hyperactivity Disorder,” Garnet started.

“He has a disorder!?” Pearl yelped, sitting on the edge of her seat.

“It just means it's why he is always moving,” Garnet supplied.

“Hey I like it that the little man loved to run around crazy like that, it’s entertaining,” Amethyst said with a shrug.

Pearl stood up real quick.

“I’m going to the library to read about this disorder,” Pearl said, leaving Amethyst and Garnet alone in the half finished house.

Garnet shrugged and sat on the couch with Amethyst, arms crossed.

Amethyst ended up falling asleep, snoring away.

Both gems were pulled from their thoughts later that day when Pearl came into the unfinished wall screaming like the world was ending.

“I went to the library and grabbed a few books on this ADHD thing,” Pearl started with wide eyes, arms holding mulitple huge books.

“Ugh, come on P!” Amethyst whined at being woken up for boring lectures.

“No, listen. It’s says here that a person with ADHD has differences in brain development and brain activity that affects attention, the ability to sit still, and self control. I bet it was Greg’s genes that mixed wrongly with Rose’s and that’s why his brain signals are telling him other things.”

Amethyst rolled her eyes.

Garnet sighed and stood, placing a hand on Pearl’s shoulder.

“It doesn’t matter what side of the genepool gave him ADHD, all that matters is that we love him either way, right?”

Pearl and Amethyst both nodded. Garnet held out a thumbs up and slightly smiled.

“Good, that’s all we need to care about then, our love for him and his love for us.”

Pearl went to her room in the temple but read every book she had gotten from the library, cover to cover until she knew everything she could learn about what Steven had.


	3. Connie finds out

Connie was so confused, Steven was a crystal gem but a lot of times, he didn’t act like it. Most of the times he acted like a hyper little excitable boy. 

She was at Steven’s for the third time. He was going all over the place. First he was playing a video game, then he wanted to draw but then got bored rather quickly and then moved on to his toys which he also quickly tired of and then back to the television for shows to watch this time which didn’t keep his attention at all. 

Connie’s eyebrows furrowed together in confused. 

“It’s not his fault” he heard a calm voice say behind her. 

She jumped, whipping her head behind her and noticed one of Steven’s care takers standing there, her arms crossed and her face looking emotionless as ever. 

“What’s not his fault?” Connie asked. 

“His energy, the need to want to do something but quickly moving on to the next thing. It’s not his fault. Greg told me that Steven has something which is called ADHD.” 

That’s when everything clicked together in Connie’s head. How did she not realise something so simple!? Connie nodded and watched as Steven ran around the living room, playing pretend, often tripping over his own feet, but always getting up and playing again. 

Connie turned back to the tall lady whom went by the name Garnet and gave her a smile.

“Thanks for letting me know,” Connie said.

Garnet nodded before making her way to the couch and lounged there, watching her crazy Steven as he barrelled around, laughing with the most precious and happy laugh she had ever heard.

Connie smiled too, happy to see his smiling face, when Steven was happy, she was happy.


	4. Priyanka finds out

Priyanka heard knocking at the front door. It must have been Steven, Connie mentioned something about the boy coming over sometime today so that they could hang out. Priyanka allowed it since she’s met Steven quite a few times now. She knew he was way too innocent and childish to hurt Connie’s heart, feelings, or do something inappropriate. Plus she had met the boy’s family. 

She walked from the kitchen to the living room, answering the door. Steven smiled widely up at her, bouncing in place. 

‘How can a kid be this happy all the time?’ Priyanka thought to herself as she stared down at the hyper little boy. 

“Hello Doctor Maheswaran” Steven greeted, still bouncing in place. 

“Hello Steven. Come on in.”

Steven quickly walked inside the house, taking his shoes off immediately, and placing them with the row of neatly lined shoes. Steven poked his tongue out in concentration as he tried to make them as perfect and lined up as all the others, his feet tapping the ground as he worked.

Once lined up properly Steven stood up and started bouncing in place again on his heels. 

“May I please go up to Connie’s room?” Steven asked as he played with the seams in his pants on the sides of his legs.

“Yes you may,” Priyanka said.

“Thank you ma'am,” Steven said before racing quietly up the stairs to Connie’s bedroom. 

Priyanka also liked Steven because he was the most nice, polite, and positive boy she had ever met. Most little boys she usually meet are rude, disrespectful, has an attitude, or all of the above. Steven truly was one of Priyanka’s favorites out of Connie’s friends. The top one and only one she truly liked, even if he was a bit hyper here and there. 

Steven wasn’t Connie’s only friend, Steven did help Connie find friends by helping her come out of her shell, by helping her overcome her shyness for making friends. Connie had started making friends after befriending Steven because he gave her the hope and courage to talk to others and make friends.

Steven truly was a great influence on her. Connie had a few guy friends at school, but mostly girl friends. 

Priyanka pulled herself from her thoughts to start making some dinner. She started a pot of water, throwing spaghetti noodles in when it was boiling, she threw some meatloaf into the oven, and boiled some mixed veggies, and for the side, and biscuits. 


	5. Peridot finds out

Peridot had Steven over at the barn to watch over him while Lapis and the other crystal gems were on a mission that required Lapis’s ability to control water, but a mission that was too dangerous for Steven to tag along. 

They didn’t know how long they would be gone for so they asked Peridot if Steven could stay with her while they were away, promising to grab Steven and drop off Lapis when they got back from the mission.

Peridot agreed. -And that’s how it came to be with her and Steven sitting on the couch in the barn, watching one of the newest episodes of camp pining hearts together.

Peridot couldn't seem to focus on the television program because Steven was fidgeting with his fingers, not focusing on the show himself.

“Steven, would you stop moving so much and just focus on the show?” Peridot asked, her eyebrows arched as she looked over at him.

Steven bit his lip as he let both hands fall to the couch cushion, gripping the cushion. He tried to focus on the show, but he found that he didn’t have much focus that day. He wanted to play his ukelele, something to keep his fingers busy and mind occupied.

“Sorry Peridot,” Steven muttered.

But he had left his ukelele behind at the beach house by accident. He started subconsciously tapping his fingers on the cushion, without realizing he was doing it.

Peridot eyed Steven from the corner of her eyes, looking at his fingers, then Steven’s face.

Peridot paused the show and turned her whole body so that she was facing Steven. Steven jumped when he realized the show was paused and she was sitting there staring at him with an unreadable expression.

“Why are you tapping your touch stumps now?” Peridot asked curiously.

“Are you sick or something?” Peridot asked getting closer to look at him.

Steven gulped and placed his hands on his knees.

“N-no, just can’t focus right now. Sorry Peridot.”

“Why can’t you focus? Why is your body moving so much?” Peridot asked, wanting answers.

“I’m not moving anymore,” Steven said as he crossed his arms.

“You’re legs,” Peridot pointed out.

Steven looked down and his legs were tapping against the floor, almost like he was marching in place. Steven groaned and slapped a hand to his forehead.

“I just wanna be moving. Doing something to busy my fingers,” Steven said with a sigh.

“Yeah I got that much, but why?” Peridot asked.

“It’s nothing, probably just my AdHD acting up. I can’t help it, sometimes my body just wants to move or keep busy instead of staying so still,” Steven explained with a slight blush.

“What’s this ADHD you speak of?” Peridot asked.

“Pearl told me it’s some kind of disorder. It means that sometimes I have limited attention and focus, I fidget a lot, or get bored really easily, I can get hyper a lot, and sometimes I repeat things too I guess.”

Peridot placed a hand on her chin in thought. 

‘I’ll ask the Pearl about the specifics later when they come to get Steven, I guess,’ Peridot thought before standing up from the couch.

“Alright, then maybe you’d like to assist me with something that requires more movement,” Peridot suggested as she started walking towards the ladder and started to go down to the ground level of the barn.

Steven jumped from the couch, a smile on his face as he followed Peridot down the ladder.

For the next few hours Peridot and Steven worked on a couple of projects that Peridot was working on, they danced while Steven’s cellular device played music, they sorted nails and bolts in separate buckets, they moved around some of the things in the barn, and they exercised.

Later that day when the sun was starting to set, the gems had arrived to a sleeping Steven and Peridot next to Steven on her tablet.

“How did today go?” Garnet asked as she scooped Steven up from the spread out blanket on the ground

“Meh it was okay, I do however have some questions for the Pearl,” Peridot said as she stood up, powering off her tablet.

“Yes, what about?” Pearl asked as she stepped closer to Peridot.

Garnet walked out of the barn, carrying Steven who was snoring lightly in her arms.

Amethyst and Lapis were talking to themselves in the corner.

“I wanted to ask about this thing called ADHD that Steven mentioned. What is it exactly?”

“The best way I can explain ADHD is that it is a medical condition, in which Steven had differences in his brain development and brain activity that affects his attention, the ability to sit still, and focus on things for too long. ADHD is short for the elongated version of the name, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.”

Peridot tried to wrap her head around all of this new information given to her.

“Alright,” Peridot said nodding, she was going to do a lot of research tonight to learn more about it. It peaked her interest, but mostly she wanted to learn about it for Steven’s sake.

“Thanks for watching over him today. I know he was probably more hyper and ‘movey’ than usual, but we couldn’t bring him with us today,” Pearl said, hoping Peridot would understand.

“Yes, you are welcome. You make it sound like some kind of chore. I enjoy hanging out with Steven. We got a lot done today anyways, so I’m glad that he wanted to move as much as he did today. It came in handy,” Peridot said, choosing her words right.

“Yes well, I don’t want to make Garnet wait any longer. We should probably get Steven home and in bed soon. Bye Peridot,” Pearl said walking towards the door.

“Amethyst, let’s get going and get Steven home,” Pearl said, pulling Amethyst from her conversation with Lapis.

Lapis and Amethyst said their goodbyes, leaving Peridot and Lapis alone in the barn.

“I’ve got some work to do tonight,” Peridot muttered.

“Hey Peridot, you want to watch that new camp pining hearts we were going to watch earlier before we were disturbed?” Lapis asked, walking over to Peridot.

“Yes I would very much enjoy watching it right now,” Peridot said.

Both Lapis and Peridot went to the second floor of the barn and watched the new camp pining hearts. 

Afterwards though, Peridot did her research on ADHD, so that she would be more prepared the next time she saw Steven.


End file.
